Arkansas County finances still tight

Wednesday

Oct 10, 2012 at 9:57 AMOct 10, 2012 at 10:02 AM

The county ended the month of September with $290,257 in unallocated collections, which is $2,000 less than last year. He said it would pick up this month after the Oct. 15 deadline for paying real estate and property taxes.

Sarah Morris, reporter3@stuttgartdailyleader.com

Arkansas County finances remain tight, although Treasurer Charles Horton said collections and the general overall picture remain in the same ballpark as previous years.

The county ended the month of September with $290,257 in unallocated collections, which is $2,000 less than last year. He said it would pick up this month after the Oct. 15 deadline for paying real estate and property taxes.

The ending balance for the county general fund was $98,516. Horton said it’s a figure that would have been considered too low for the county’s safety fund a year or two ago.

Today, however, he said they just hope everything will be OK for the rest of the year.

At the end of September 2011, the county general fund was $262,420, a difference Horton cites to the county now being instructed to pay its final tax settlement 10 months early. Previously, the roughly $250,000 was paid in October.

Horton said the county road budget is the other main concern for county officials. Its ending balance for September was $120,899. Last year, it was $376,906.

The financial update was given during Tuesday’s Arkansas County Quorum Court meeting, which had justices of the peace amending the county general to include two grants for the county’s law enforcement.

The aid includes $31,167 in grant-in-aid for the Arkansas County Juvenile Detention Facility, which can be used to offset basic upkeep and purchase any needed supplies or equipment. In the past, Sheriff Allen Cheek said it has been used to fund a recreational room and help purchase a lawn mower.

The second grant is a $4,200 mini JAG grant through the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants program. Cheek said it would help purchase new uniforms as well as the equipment the officers’ carry.

Cheek said it has also been a good month for trash pickup. Inmates collected 103 bags of trash along 58.3 miles. There are 69 inmates, including 54 males, in the Arkansas County Adult Detention Facility. Eleven of the 15 females are 309 inmates. Cheek said 309 funding would be reduced starting this month.

The justices of the peace, minus Tom Hasty and Sherry Criswell, additionally approved three ordinances amending the county general.

The ordinances amended the general fund budget to include a $12,320 reimbursement from the state for the primary and runoff elections while re-appropriating $125 in travel expenses for the assessor’s budget. The $125 was transferred from mileage to a newly created miscellaneous line item.

The final amendment re-appropriated $445 from general supplies to a line item for computer and equipment software in the tax collector’s budget.